No. 194. IN ASSEMBLY, March 30, 1866. FORTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE NEW YORK STATE LIBRARY. To the Hon. LYMAN TREMAIN, Speaker of the Assembly: SIR-I have the honor to transmit the forty-eighth annual report of the trustees of the New York State Library. I remain, very respectfully, Your obedient servant, JOHN V. L. PRUYN, Chancellor of the University. STATE LIBRARY, ALBANY, March 30, 1866. The Regents of the University of the State of New York are, by law, declared to be ex officio trustees of the State Library. The following are the members of the Board at the date of this report: JOHN V. L. PRUYN, LL. D., Chancellor. GULIAN C. VERPLANCK, LL. D., Vice-Chancellor. REUBEN E. FENTON, Governor. (Ex-officio.) THOMAS G. ALVORD, Lieutenant-Governor. (Ex-officio.) FRANCIS C. BARLOW, Secretary of State. (Ex-officio.) VICTOR M. RICE, Superintendent of Public Instruction. (Ex-officio.) ERASTUS CORNING, PROSPER M. WETMORE, GIDEON HAWLEY, LL. D., REV. SAMUEL LUCKEY, D. D., ERASTUS C. BENEDICT, LL. D., LORENZO BURROWS, ROBERT S. HALE, ELIAS W. LEAVENWORTH, J. CARSON BREVOORT, GEORGE R. PERKINS, LL. D., REV. WM. H. GOODWIN, D. d. SAMUEL B. WOOLWORTH, LL. D., Secretary. Standing Committee of the Regents specially charged with the care of the State Library, for the year 1866. THE CHANCELLOR (MR. PRUYN), REV. DR. LUCKEY, THE VICE-CHANCELLOR (Mr. Verplanck), MR. WETMORE, MR. PERKINS, MR. JOHNSON. Officers of the State Library. Librarian of the Law Library. Librarian of the General Library. HENRY A. HOMES. Assistant Librarians. DANIEL J. PRATT, NORMAN S. CURTISS. REPORT. To the Honorable the Legislature of the State of New York: The trustees of the State Library respectfully present this their Forty-eighth Annual Report: At the close of the year 1864 the whole number of volumes in the library was.. 68,460 Of which there were in the general library In the law library. 18,746 At the close of the year 1865 the whole number was... 70,937 In the general library: 51,907 In the law library 19,030 The additions for the last year were, to the general Among the additions by exchange the trustees specially notice the following scientific works from the distant colony of Victoria: Australian Mosses, 1 vol. 8°. Vegetation of Chatham Islands, 1 vol. 8°. Lithograms of Plants indigenous to Victoria, 1 vol. 4o. Two Geological Maps of Victoria. Ten Geographical Maps of Victoria. In addition to the above are eleven Parliamentary Papers illustrative of the condition and resources of the colony. A donation of forty-one volumes, chiefly in folio, consisting of English Law Reports and Treatises of early date, has been received from Gen. J. Watts DePeyster. Among the additions are more than five thousand pamphlets, mostly by donation and exchange, which have been assorted, catalogued and bound into two hundred and fifty-seven volumes. A large amount of material hitherto inaccessible has thus been made available for the purposes of examination and study. umes. When the library, in 1844, was placed in charge of the Regents as its trustees, the number of volumes was estimated at ten thousand. This number had increased in 1855 to forty thousand, and in 1865 to seventy thousand. The average yearly increase during each of these decades was, therefore, about three thousand volIt is gratifying to the trustees that, with the small sum at their disposal for the purchase of books, and the high prices which they command, they have been able to bring the additions of the past year so near to the average of former years. It is, however, proper to state that they have been under the continued necessity of delaying the purchase of many works imperatively demanded to maintain the high character of the library, until the means at their disposal shall be considerably enlarged. With even the present rate of increase, the shelves of the library are becoming filled. The trustees would feel impelled to urge the necessity of soon providing enlarged space for the books, and better accommodations for readers, but for the expectation that in the erection of the proposed new Capitol ample provision will be made for, the State Library. The number of readers in the general library during the past year has been, according to a most careful estimate, at least five thousand. The number, by actual count, during the months of January and February of the present year, was over fifteen hundred, without including either the numerous visitors, or those who, under the regulations, have drawn books from the library. The books of the law library are in more constant use. They are consulted by members of the Legislature during its session, by the State officers and judges of the courts, and by members of the bar. All citizens of the State have, under proper regulations, an undoubted and equal right to its use for the great purpose of a library of reference, for which it was established. The trustees feel bound to call the attention of the Legislature to its very large use as a place of study, by law students and the members of the Law School of this city. This school, under the instruction of its able professors, has acquired a deserved and widely extended celebrity, and is believed to number more students than any other in the country: Many of these find the treatises and reports with which the library is supplied, of great convenience in the study of the subjects discussed in the lectures of the professors. The number who thus resort to the library is often so large as almost to exclude others from its use. The effect of such constant and common use of the library has already become apparent in the impaired condition of the books, and if it continues, the trustees will soon be obliged to call on the Legislature for means to renew and replace a considerable portion of the law department. They have every disposition to encourage and aid the professors and students of this school in their efforts to elevate the profession of the law; but they have felt obliged, as guardians to whom is intrusted the care and preservation of the library, to call the attention of the Legislature to the condition of things above referred to. The indexing of the twenty-two volumes of the papers and correspondence of Sir William Johnson, has been completed as directed by the joint resolution of April 5, 1856. The combined work of the librarians, Mr. Homes and Mr. Pratt, it has been executed with great care, and to the entire satisfaction of the trustees. This index makes available a mass of material illustrative of an interesting period of American history, and of the acts of one of the ablest colonial officers. Since our last report was presented, the first supplement.of the catalogue of the law library has been printed in conformity with the statute. The usual statements of cash receipts and expenditures; of books and pamphlets received by donation and exchange, and of volumes catalogued and placed on the shelves of the library during the year 1865, are hereto appended. Respectfully submitted, by order of the regents, JOHN V. L. PRUYN, Chancellor of the University. |